The SitePoint Forums have moved.

You can now find them here.
This forum is now closed to new posts, but you can browse existing content.
You can find out more information about the move and how to open a new account (if necessary) here.
If you get stuck you can get support by emailing forums@sitepoint.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The best production environment for Rails will be Unix based OS / Lighttpd (often called Lightty) / MySQL / Fast CGI. Let me warn you it's can be a fag to setup if you are new to this stuff (however not too bad if you know Linux fairly well). For many you need to compile Lightty, so it's worth making sure you have compiler tools at hand. Also, get the MySQL ruby bindings, it will make your apps a lot faster.

For development systems, use an OS of your preference, Webbrick, MySQL, and if you aren't on Windows, get the MySQL ruby bindings.

Umm. Actually you don't want to use the ruby mysql bindings as they are slow. You can the pure C mysql-ruby driver. See other threads in this forum for installation and setup procedures that I have posted.

Umm. Actually you don't want to use the ruby mysql bindings as they are slow. You can the pure C mysql-ruby driver. See other threads in this forum for installation and setup procedures that I have posted.

The best production environment for Rails will be Unix based OS / Lighttpd (often called Lightty) / MySQL / Fast CGI. Let me warn you it's can be a fag to setup if you are new to this stuff (however not too bad if you know Linux fairly well). For many you need to compile Lightty, so it's worth making sure you have compiler tools at hand. Also, get the MySQL ruby bindings, it will make your apps a lot faster.

For development systems, use an OS of your preference, Webbrick, MySQL, and if you aren't on Windows, get the MySQL ruby bindings.

I never used Lighttpd, but I wouldn't recommend it even if I haven't used it, simply because few hostings offer it. Apache is too strong right now, and mod_ruby is easier to setup.
Plus, the biggest advantage of Apache: you can have mod_ruby, mod_python, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_mono, mod_jk ... all in the same server.

I never used Lighttpd, but I wouldn't recommend it even if I haven't used it, simply because few hostings offer it. Apache is too strong right now, and mod_ruby is easier to setup.

I'm sorry but thats a rather myopic view. Its recommended by the developers and countless others yet you happily dismiss it despite having never used it and because not many hosts have it right now (so what, there aren't exactly tons of RubyOnRails hosts yet either). And at the same time, you recommend mod_ruby which has known problems and is generally advised against?

To the OP, the best advice has already been given, and that is to run your Rails apps in a FastCGI environment, of which Lighttpd has been proven to excel at and is used by plenty of bigRailswebsites and is supported by the official Rails host if you need shared hosting, and if you have dedicated, then that isn't even a problem.

I never used Lighttpd, but I wouldn't recommend it even if I haven't used it, simply because few hostings offer it. Apache is too strong right now, and mod_ruby is easier to setup.
Plus, the biggest advantage of Apache: you can have mod_ruby, mod_python, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_mono, mod_jk ... all in the same server.

Well, yea, there is that, however, one can also argue most hosts don't support Ruby. Anyone serious about developing web apps will have their own dedicated server, or at least VPS setup if your cheapo student like me. Anyway with any experience will know that shared hosting is a real gamble and it's just not worth the risk on a commercial site. For those starting off, webrick is easy enough to setup

I never used Lighttpd, but I wouldn't recommend it even if I haven't used it, simply because few hostings offer it. Apache is too strong right now, and mod_ruby is easier to setup.
Plus, the biggest advantage of Apache: you can have mod_ruby, mod_python, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_mono, mod_jk ... all in the same server.